History and Origins
This crop produces a drink by steeping in freshly boiled water the young leaves and leaf buds of the plant.
What is Tea?
Naturally occurring chemicals produced by plants that can be harmful or lethal to humans, animals, or insects.
What are Phytotoxins?
Chili peppers produce this chemical compound to defend themselves from herbivores causing a burning sensation in the mouth.
What is Capsaicin?
This bacterial disease, vectored by the Asian citrus psyllid, has no known cure and has wreaked havoc on the Florida citrus industry.
What is Citrus Greening?
This species of grass is grown in Tiger stadium, particularly the cultivar 'Celebration'.
What is Bermudagrass?
This group of plants, used for flavoring or coloring food, was sought after by the European powers during the Age of Exploration.
What are Spices?
Of the top 4 berries in the world, this crop is the only true botanical berry amongst the others.
What are Blueberries?
This term is used to describe fruit set without pollination in crops such as cucumbers.
What is Parthenocarpy?
This is a fungal disease of cereals spread in cold/wet conditions inside grain storages. It's also known as St. Anthony's Fire and when consumed caused symptoms of convulsions, hallucinations, or coma.
What is Ergot?
The presence of this gas prevents fermentation from occurring where yeast converts sugar to ethanol and CO2.
What is Oxygen?
This fruit, native to Malaysia, is found throughout the equator due to natural and human dispersal.
What is a Coconut?
This type of fruit features a single seed encased in a hard endocarp surrounded by a fleshy or pulpy exterior.
What is a Drupe?
This plant pigment produces reds/blues/purples in many fruits and has antioxidant properties.
What is an Anthocyanin?
Many palms crops come under attack from this insect which eats the apical buds of the palms, effectively killing them.
What is Rhinoceros Beetle?
This cultivar of banana is where the flavor of artificial banana comes from.
What is Gros Michel?
This fruit is native to central Asia and is currently the #2 fruit in the world by consumption.
What is a Apple?
This type of flowering occurs in a species where there are male individuals and female individuals such as in dates.
What is Dioecious Flowering?
This chemical acts by blocking binding of adenosine at a number of adenosine receptor types, inhibiting the centrally depressant effects of adenosine (sleepiness).
What is Caffeine?
This bacterial disease, vectored by leafhoppers, is the sole limiting reason why wine grapes cannot grow in Louisiana/the entire U.S. Southeast.
What is Pierce's Disease?
These 3 crops account for nearly half of all food calories consumed by humans.
What is corn, wheat, and rice?
This grain is considered to be humanity's first domesticated crop and has origins in Mesopotamia.
What is Wheat?
This type of fruit results from a single flower that has multiple ovaries leading to multiple "fruitlets" such as in raspberries.
What is an Aggregate Fruit?
This chemical found in cacao is linked to increasing serotonin levels when consumed and is toxic to dogs.
What is Theobromine?
This fungal disease nearly wiped out the world's main cultivar of banana in the early 1900s resulting in the switch to using the Cavendish cultivar.
What is Fusarium wilt? (Panama disease)
The minimum period of cold weather after which a fruit-bearing tree will blossom.
What is Chilling Hours?